By Drew MacFarlane

December 04 2018 12:42 PM EST

weather.com

Wildlife advocates are calling for change after a trophy hunter killed a beloved she-wolf just outside Yellowstone National Park.

At a Glance

A wolf known and loved by Yellowstone visitors and staff was shot and killed.

A trophy hunter legally hunted 926F, known as "Spitfire," right outside Yellowstone's boundaries.

The hunting has sparked a push to create a hunt-free buffer outside the park.

A wolf beloved by Yellowstone National Park visitors and staff that was a direct descendant of the first wolves to repopulate the park was shot and killed by a trophy hunter last weekend, sparking requests for a hunt-free zone around the park.

Scientists named the 7-year-old female wolf "Lamar Canyon Wolf Pack member 926F," but she was better known by her nickname "Spitfire."

832F was known for her tendency to make appearances along roads popularly used by tourists and was regarded as "the most famous wolf in the world," according to the New York Times. The park's famed wolf was also known as the inspiration behind the book American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West.

Lamar Canyon Wolf Pack member 926F, nicknamed "Spitfire," was shot and killed by a trophy hunter outside of Yellowstone National Park.

(Mark Perry/Getty Images)

“One of the big reasons 926 is so very important to so many people is her lineage, which goes back to the very beginning,” said Rick McIntyre, a retired staff member of the Yellowstone Wolf Project.

Spitfire's bloodline stretches all the way back to wolf No. 9, one of the first wolves used to repopulate Yellowstone from Alberta, Canada, more than 20 years ago. Yellowstone wolves were eradicated in the 1920s before being reintroduced in the 1990s. There are now around 100 wolves in 10 packs scattered across the park.

Spitfire's death has sparked a renewed push to create a hunt-free buffer outside the park's boundaries for animals that live within the park but wander outside its grounds from time to time.

"We’re amazed at the hostility toward the buffer idea coming from authorities of states surrounding the parks," the Campaign for Yellowstone's Wolves posted on Facebook.

Hunting right along the park's fringes has also raised questions about just how fair it is to hunt wolves who have familiarity with humans and no longer fear interaction.

“Wolf hunters talk about seeing a pack of park wolves outside the boundary and being able to pick the one they want,” Doug Smith, Yellowstone's wolf biologist, recently told the New York Times. “They just stand there and have no fear.”

With Spitfire gone, the Lamar Canyon pack is down to just six wolves, four of which are pups that were born in 2018, the first surviving litter in 3 years. Researchers in the group are unsure whether the pups' mother is Spitfire or Little T, Spitfire's daughter and the pack's current alpha female.

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